


Balance

by TheGr8Godzilla2014



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Black Panther (2018), Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Spoilers, major death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-04-29 02:49:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14463378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGr8Godzilla2014/pseuds/TheGr8Godzilla2014
Summary: On May 4, 2018, the earth suffered as half its population vanished, and those that remained are forced to endure the chaos. This is a compilation of the thoughts of those left in the universe and the last actions of those that are no more.





	1. Peter Benjamin Parker, Age:15

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh, that was the saddest thing! I wrote a little something on it, while working on the Tamatoa story.

Strange was gone. Just... Dead.

 

He'd gone so silently--so _slowly_. The man was weakened, lying against a rock in defeat and telling Mr.Stark something. I didn't like how he looked when...it didn't look right at all-- it wasn't a natural kind of death, you know? His body--it just turned to _dust_ , little by little until it reached his head. I turned away from the sight before I could see it; I'd seen Quill and the others go before him, and..I-I just can't watch anymore...

 

It's not _just_ seeing him or the others die. It’s worse than that. I got a cold feeling of dread, uncertainty about this. That _Thanos_ guy--he was wiping out _half_ the universe right now. Half of _Earth_. But it wasn't a selective choice, at least according to him. I didn't say so out loud, and I’d never admit it, but that was horrifying. No one was safe from the onslaught of his power. You could be a poor homeless man, or the president of the united states or the most important member of the UN. It didn't matter. Right now, thousands of infants, toddlers and kids my age could be…

 

Ned.

 

Aunt May.

 

I balled my hands into fists at the memories of them. They couldn't be dead-- _no_. That can't happen. They would be on the ‘lucky’ side of the half and they would live and I’ll go home to see them again and then I’ll help Mr. Stark stop Thanos. Somehow.

 

 _Strange_ \--what did he say before he...yes. Something about this being the only way. This was after his travels into the future right? Yes. Fourteen million outcomes, he'd said, with only _one_ way we could win. Was this that way? Mr.Stark will know!

 

I turn around to face him, and...something happens.

 

 _Odd_. I got that... _tingly_ feeling I usually get when I got like, a guy with a gun about to shoot at me or something. Ned calls it **Spider-sense** , but it sounds silly. But...it doesn't feel anything like before--like at all. It's so strong that I can't keep still. I'm _shaking_. I feel sweaty but cold and _really_ sick. I...I don't get it. Why’s my sense going off so loudly?

 

“...M- _Mister Stark_ ,” I swallow bile in my throat as I turn towards him, though it's hard to do when I keep shaking like this. I'm _Spider-man_ , and _Spider-man_ doesn't shake. “I...I-I don't feel so good.”

 

Mr.Stark, he...he's looking at me weird. I _know_ his face; I've seen it enough. It's always a mischievous, aloof kind of expression with him. It always reflects his personality, even when he's being really nice to me--its like, the best look for a mentor. It's inspiring.

 

So why does he look so pale and... _scared_?

 

He’s taking a shuddering step towards me, hands half raised. Why? “You’re okay.” He says, but it doesn't feel like he's talking to me. It's like he's trying to...to convince _himself_.

 

“I _dont_ \--” I stagger a little, and its like I'm shrinking whenever I use my left foot. And the dust on this planet--I must be kicking up a lot of it. I look up at him again, and the sense gets stronger and stronger. “I _-I do-don’t know w-what’s g-going on_ \--What’s--”

 

I stumble hard, like my left foot isn't there any more, and Mister Stark instantly has me in his arms. I'm hugging him back weakly, trying to find my footing again and murmuring things even _I_ can't hear. I can remember that fateful day before I became Spider-man: the day an important someone fell into my arms the way I did into Tony’s and didn't move again. That man died right there in my arms and I--

 

No.

 

 _No_.

 

 _No No_.

 

 _Nononononononono_ \--

 

Not _me_. It _can't_...It can't be _me_ next. Why is it _me_? I don't want...It's _too soon_. I'm too young. _Too_ young. No,  please. I gotta stop this. Someone has to stop this. Anyone.

 

“ _Kid_ ,” Mister Stark hugs me tight, and his voice is cracking. He _knows_ what's happening. Iron man is my  hero\--he’s saved me before, as a little kid. He can do it now. He _has_ to. He's _Iron man_.

 

Tears sting my eyes as I grip him harder, trying to block out the death bells of my senses in my head. They're _taunting_ me, whispering that I'm gonna **die** on some barren planet and become **dust**. Ned would never be the same again if he blamed himself for me. _Aunt May,_ if she's alive--she’ll never see me again. I’ll never see.. _.I wanna go. I wanna go home. I just wanna be home with her. Please,no._

 

“Puh...P-Please. _Please, Mr.Stark_. I _don’t_!” I can't feel anything below my knees by now, and then I can’t feel them either. I hug Mister Stark tighter, and he does too. He’s shaking, holding back tears for me. My senses are making my head and heart pound. “I _don’t wanna go! Please--I don’t w-wanna die. I--don’t let me die, please! I don’t wanna go_!”

 

Half of me is gone by the time he sets me down on the ground, and something inside me _vanishes_. My senses die, and I'm left with a hollow... _warm_ feeling. The edges of my vision are getting dark, and my sobbing isn't helping me breath. I stop, and it happens.

 

All those movies about characters who say your flashes before your eyes--they've never been more **right**. It's a literal _flash_ for me, a compilation of _everything_ up until now. I...I’m dying too soon,  way too soon...but I've had a good life. I remember bits and pieces of it, especially when Tony appeared to me.

 

“ _Nice work, kid._ ”

" _Thanks_!"

 

I swallowed. I couldn't feel my arms.

 

“... _and if you die, I feel like that's on me. I can't have that on my conscience_.”

 

No. I'm sorry.

 

I can still see a blurry shape in the darkness, holding me in his arms. I look at the shape as best as I can.

 

“ _I’m s-sorry, Tony_.”

 

Seconds later, darkness embraces me.


	2. Revenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess of Wakanda

Vengeance.

 

The thought hadn’t occurred to me when I awoke, inhaling the horrid smell of the ashes of a Dora Milaje member. The only thing that had taken over her mind was confusion, filled to the brim with questions; where was Vision? What happened to the warrior beside me? Why was everyone around me crying or on the verge of tears?

 

Indeed, it seemed that all of Wakanda had fallen into a horrible depression and even the Avengers were not safe from it. I thought I’d seen every expression imaginable from Steve Rogers, but the face he wore when I saw him haunts me even now. There was no hope in his eyes, only the blank stare of a lost war. I looked around for any sign of my brother--he would lift our spirits and take our minds off whatever was the problem. I’d probably tease him for losing to aliens if a sobbing Okoye hadn’t given me the tightest hug.

 

That was when denial settled in. At first...I admit that I hadn’t processed the news of T’challa at first. I’d thought him to be dead before and he came back as good as new hours later. I told myself, without trying to, that this was that same situation. My brother was alive and well in my subconscious, so I only blankly nodded and went to my room--to process some way of winning. I think about it now, and I think I was trying to find a way to fix this before I finally realized I was living a nightmare.

 

I wasn't fast enough, and it hit me that night.

 

I...I was just reading over a recent algorithm that I created when a small piece of a paper, a picture, fell out between a few of the pages. It was a picture of T’challa and I, as young siblings. His confident, mirthful smile was contagious and it seemed to be on my younger face. Then reality struck me in the heart, harder than all the elephants in the world combined.

 

 _Bast_ , I must have screamed my lungs out, wailed like a baby. My mother, eyes red with her own tears, scooped me into a fierce hug and didn't let me go the whole night. I haven't quite slept since.

 

But today, I felt a new feeling, as I went through the rituals and assumed my brother’s role as ruler of Wakanda. It was a hot, _livid_ feeling that made me burning to the touch and cast eyes from me. No challengers tried to take this from me, and soon I was...inaugurated.

 

I wasted no time in preparing myself, training under Okoye to fight the best I could. I designed newer suits, began to extract more vibranium to make them invincible. I want to _be_ invincible when I hunt down this Thanos and slit his throat open. I want him to fear the ghost of The Black Panther he’s left behind, and **die** by my claws.

 

I want my brother back.

  
I want him back _so much._

_Vengeance._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, it's short, I know. But to the point.


	3. Hope Van Dyne, Age 37

"And don't get stuck in a Time Vortex, or we won't be able to get you out."

 

I raised an eyebrow at my mother's warning, but didn't say anything about it. The Quantum Realm was way too mysterious for my tastes; too many things left to be understood about it. I hoped that I could be the one going in, if only to be partnered with Scott in the endless void. Though he agreed to this without any problems,I could still see the slight fear in his face. Time in here had a startling effect on his consciousness, and I ought to be in there to help him if he had an episode.

 

"You got it, Ma'am." Scott gave a thumbs up to me as his helmet clicked into place."Beam me up, Hope-y."

 

Stifling a laugh, I charged the gateway with a few flicks of some switches and quietly waited for him to be sucked into the Quantum gate. Scott glanced back at me, his smirk almost visible through the metal plating of his mask. "That fight still goin' on in Wakanda?"

 

Ugh. Scott and these stupid Avengers. He acts like he has to keep track of their every move. "As far as we know. It's not exactly public news."

 

"Ha. Tell me who wins if they finish up before I'm out."

 

I rolled my eyes as the process completed and he was sucked into the hold of the Quantum Gate. Somewhere between molecules, he was probably floating above nothing and using the cartridge we gave him to suck in energy from the void. It wouldn't take him more than a minute, given how easily one can harvest the energy.

 

"Huh. That's weird." I glanced back at my dad, who had his brow furrowed at something on his phone. "What?"

 

"I checked out of the News app to check on our Ant-video feed in Wakanda, which is destroyed by the way," He turned the phone around to let me see. There was a chair and a desk where a news-reporter would usually be sitting, but it was lacking the reporter. Even stranger, was the black residue floating down from above."Weird, huh?"

 

"Yeah, must be fixing something in the ceiling." I shrugged. "It explains the dust fall, and the guy probably moved out of the way to avoid getting anything on his clothes."

 

My mother frowned. "...In the middle of a broadcast?"

 

The echo of a car crash sounded below us, and the three of us exchanged glances. When we looked over the edge of the roof, we saw a grey toyota rammed hard into a tree, crunching the front part. A small group of people were already forming around it, confused by something. I peered closer at the black windows of the crashed vehicle to see what I might missing. My eye were just starting to adjust and see through enough of the windows, when the crowd suddenly began to shriek and gasp loudly. They suddenly backed away from a lone individual who...

 

"Dear God." My dad said with an indescribable tone of shock.

 

The pile of dust that was once a citizen wafted away in the wind. Several other members of the crowd turned into small piles soon after, creating more of a panic down below. We could hear more cars crashing, maybe even a helicopter going down in the distance. People turned to dust in the middle of a frantic run, and then others and even more afterwards. My hands shook slightly, nervous.

 

"Alright, Guys! I got the goods for our new Ghost pal." The radio crackled aloud, and I practically rushed over to it with a relieved sigh. Whatever was going on, perhaps they could fix it with Scott's help. Somehow. "Beam me up, Hope-y."

 

I breathed to calm myself, then grabbed the responder. "Okay. Pulling you back," I told him and reached for the control panel. "In 3...2--"

 

"Janet--NO!"

 

"Mom?!" I was already whirling around before my dad had even finished his scream. It wasn't fair--this wasn't fair at all. I just got her back--I just got her back!

 

My mom's chest caved in as it crackled away into dust--like burning paper wilting into black ashes. Her horrified expression turned from my frantic father to me, while she disappeared at an alarming rate.

 

No. Please, no.

 

"...L-love you, Jellybea--..."

 

The dust collapsed to the ground, forming an unmoving pile of black particles. I stumbled over to the pile with a numb feeling in my heart, and a great weakness in my legs. I touched the dust of my mother and stared incomprehensibly at the matter stuck to my fingers. She wasn't just gone. She was gone on a molecular level--her atoms literally broken down into insignificant particles.

 

A saddened voice spoke above me. "Hope...Get him out before its too late. I love you."

 

My heart jumped to life again, fueled by fear and sadness. I was already hugging the crumbling form of my dad, and then I was hugging nothing but air. I clutched my hair, tight enough to hurt--why was this happening? I didn't need to look down when my left foot went numb, I just knew I had to move fast. I had seconds before I was claimed by whatever force was killing everyone-- I tried to hobble my way over to the control panel and fell.

 

Everything from the waist down was numb to me, and the feeling was climbing higher. I didn't even have the strength to reach that stupid responder. I could only lie there, sobbing and waiting for the inevitable. I closed my eyes and listened beyond the sound of death roaring in my ears.

 

"Guys, I'm serious! This isn't funny! What's happened?!" A tiny voice said. "Janet! Hank! HOPE?! Guys, answer me!"

 

Scott.

 

I love you.

 

"GUYS PLEASE! ANSWER ME! HOPE!"

 

Darkness.


End file.
